geri_chan | Yuletide Reveal

This year I wrote for the Phoebe and Her Unicorn comic/graphic novel series. It's a delightfully silly and heartwarming story about a young girl named Phoebe who becomes friends with a unicorn named Marigold Heavenly Nostrils. As you might guess from Marigold's name, there's a lot of humor in this series, but I also love the theme of friendship, and I love Phoebe's relationship with her loving and nerdy parents.

Sleeping Frenemy (5737 words) by geri_chan

Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Phoebe and Her Unicorn Series - Dana Simpson
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Marigold Heavenly Nostrils, Phoebe Howell
Additional Tags: Friendship, Humor

Summary: When Dakota falls into an enchanted slumber, Phoebe and Marigold must travel to the moon to find a cure.

One of my recip's prompts was for a story exploring unicorn culture, and while doing canon review, I came across two legends Marigold tells Phoebe about a unicorn who lives on or in the moon, which gave me the seed of inspiration for my story. Then I had to figure out a reason for Marigold and Phoebe to travel to the moon.

Again, while doing canon review, I came across Phoebe's frenemy Dakota and her on-and-off friendship with the goblins, whom I find hilarious. I love the way they speak only speak in variations of "blart!" (Similar to the way the quail Mumphrey in the Hamster Princess series only says "Qwerk," so I guess that sort of thing appeals to my sense of humor. ^_^) So I decided to go the fairy tale route and have Dakota (accidentally) put into an enchanted sleep by her goblin friend, and our heroines have to go to the moon to find the cure.

Incidentally, I also love Phoebe and Dakota's complicated relationship in the comic. Mostly Dakota is one of the popular Mean Girls who makes fun of Phoebe for being weird and nerdy, but Dakota also has her own hidden weird and nerdy side--after all, she is friends with a goblin, although she would say it's Phoebe's fault since she never would have met the goblins if it hadn't been for Phoebe and Marigold. Occasionally, when they're alone and bonding over a favorite tv show or weird magical friends, she can be kind of nice. I would say that maybe Dakota secretly envies Phoebe for not being afraid to be herself, while Dakota always feels like she always has to keep up her cool, popular girl image in public. Dakota would never admit it, though! As for Phoebe, she hates that she cares so much about what Dakota thinks about her, and is confused that Dakota can be mean at times and nice at others. Unicorns and goblins aside, that seems like a pretty realistic way for a kid Phoebe's age to feel.

That makes the series sound heavier than it is, though. Mostly there is a lot of silly humor and warm friendship feels, without ignoring the fact that nerdy kids like Phoebe and her friend Max sometimes get teased and bullied at school, but we also get to see that Phoebe and Max get a sense of support and belonging from each other, their parents, and of course, their magical friends. (Max's friend is a dragon, but that's a whole other story.)

Anyway, if unicorns and silliness and friendship feels appeal to you, please check out my story and the comic that it's based on! Incidentally, the canon comic recently had a story arc where Phoebe and Marigold go to the moon, which did not get published until after Christmas, so either it is a remarkable coincidence or I am beginning to understand how unicorns think!